Thomas Boyd/The OregonianAudrey and Ross Shutts want to build an additional home on their 17 acres near Sherwood for their son to live in. But nearly a year after voters approved Measure 49, they and more than 4,000 other property owners are waiting for the state to process their "express route" development claims.

Nearly a year after passage of Measure 49 gave thousands of property owners the right to build homes in rural areas, the state has evaluated only 3 percent of 4,536 applicants, the department in charge has asked for more money and the director says his staff won't finish the job until 2010.

And that's just the state's first-stage involvement. For each application, preliminary approval is followed by a 28-day comment period, during which neighboring property owners are mailed the six- and seven-page state findings and invited to comment. The first 2,326 mailings prompted seven responses.

Once final state approval is granted -- the first six were issued Oct. 8 -- county governments take their turn.

Washington County planner Tom Harry said it might take as long as a year to approve a lot partition, after which the property owner will need to obtain building permits.

"You know what I tell people?" Harry said. "'Express' means faster than the other options. It still takes time."

Property owners, many of whom originally filed development claims two or three years ago, are increasingly frustrated.

"Our phone is ringing off the hook with people who are upset that it's taking so long to get their claims decided," said Dave Hunnicutt, president of the property rights group Oregonians in Action. "The express lane is the slow boat to China, which is what we were telling people during the campaign last year."

In 2004, his group sponsored Measure 37, which gave property owners the right to develop their land in a way that was allowed when they bought it. Oregonians in Action opposed 2007's Measure 49, which rolled back development rights and gave Measure 37 claimants three development options. About 92 percent chose the "express route" that allowed them to build as many as three homes.

The Shutts of Washington County are among those slogging along the express route. Ross and Audrey Shutts own 17.7 acres along Southwest Beef Bend Road north of Sherwood, where they raised Appaloosa horses for many years and Ross Shutts did custom hay-baling for other farmers. He's still working at age 84, plowing fields for neighbors.

The Shutts bought the property in 1962 and built a house. The zoning at the time would have allowed them to build a second house. The zoning later was changed to exclusive farm use, which prevents building on less than 80 acres and kept the Shutts from adding another house.

The Shutts' son, Chuck, intended to build a house on his parents' property and move there to care for them as they aged. Measure 37, approved by voters in 2004, gave him that chance.

The family filed claims with the county and state in 2005 and 2006, respectively, but hadn't built anything when the law changed with the passage of Measure 49 last year. They followed up in 2008 by choosing the new law's express route -- still seeking to build one additional house.

On Sept. 22, they received a seven-page preliminary approval from the state Department of Land Conservation and Development. The notice started the clock on the 28-day comment period.

"All the neighbors said, 'When you going to build, Chuck?'" the younger Shutts said. "There was no objection before, and it's the same neighbors now."

The site where he plans to build already has a driveway, well and a pole barn. It's been approved for a septic tank and the fire marshal's been out to determine whether the driveway turn-around is big enough for a firetruck. The family is resigned to the slow pace of approval.

"We have to wait it out; there's nothing we can do," Ross Shutts said.

Richard Whitman, the Department of Land Conservation and Development director, recently cajoled the state Emergency Board to allocate $486,000 to speed the process. The money will be used for staff and continued legal help from the state Justice Department. Whitman said, however, that it probably will take two more years to finish evaluating the claims.

Deputy Director Cora Parker said the sheer volume of development claims and the care they require have combined to slow the pace.

"Essentially, each one is a mini land-use decision," she said. "Nothing is an overnight process."

The department has to determine that the applicants did in fact own the property involved and that the development rules in effect when they bought it would have allowed them to build what they're asking for in their Measure 49 claim, Parker said.

To speed the process, the state developed a historical matrix of county zoning ordinances and permitted developments. That allows staff to figure out what kind of development was allowed in each county at a certain point in time, which should shorten the research time, Parker said.

"Now that it's done, it will increase our efficiency of getting (development claims) out the door," she said. "We're ramping up."

Hunnicutt, of Oregonians in Action, said Oregon's counties could do it quicker.

"Basically you have a state agency that's not prepared to be a county planning department, being the planning department for 36 counties," he said.

Hunnicutt said the 2009 Legislature should either return the job to the counties or give the Department of Land Conservation and Development the money it needs to process cases faster. He said Whitman's estimate of finishing the job by 2010 is "overly optimistic."

"This is an elderly group of claimants, some of whom won't live long enough to see the relief they were promised," Hunnicutt said.